Judgement today in Nina Wang case
A High Court judge will hand down his judgement this morning in one of the most celebrated cases of recent years - the probate battle over the multi-billion dollar fortune of Asia’s richest businesswoman, Nina Wang. The case pits feng shui master Tony Chan against the Chinachem Charitable Foundation. The judge, Mr Justice Lam, will have to rule on two competing wills - an earlier one transferring Mrs Wang’s fortune to the charitable foundation, and a later one giving it all to Mr Chan. The case began when the feng shui master emerged following Mrs Wang’s death, and claimed to be her lover and the designated heir of her estate. He said Mrs Wang had given him billions of dollars in cash, and wanted to have his child. However, the late tycoon’s family members testified for the charity foundation, saying the money was merely fees for his fungshui services. They said even if the two had anything beyond a professional relationship, Mr Chan was nothing more than a “toyboy”. (RTHK)

(South Korea) A Sponge release, presented with the support of the Korean Film Council, of a Blue Tree Pictures production in co-production with Rudolf Film. (International sales: Sponge Entertainment, Seoul.) Produced by Lim Min-sub. Executive producers, David Cho, Cho Eunun. Co-producer, Park Byung-choon. Directed, written by Lim Woo-seong, based on the novel by Han Kang.

By JUSTIN CHANG
Body horror and body art are conjoined in the tastefully kinky “Vegetarian.” A tonally extreme portrait of a woman who swears off meat before retreating into a literally vegetative state, writer-director Lim Woo-seong’s debut is an audacious if borderline risible psychodrama that suggests a South Korean spin on “The Pillow Book.” Pic seems unlikely to appeal to Asian auds far beyond the fest circuit; impact on post-viewing Korean BBQ consumption seems negligible.

In response to a series of scary dreams, Yeong-hye (Chae Min-seo) suddenly stops eating meat and becomes near-catatonic, with occasionally violent episodes, sending her husband (Kim Young-jae) packing. Her kindly sister (Kim Yeo-jin) asks her own husband, Sang-min (Park Sang-yeon), to keep an eye on Yeong-hye, which turns out to be a bad idea: Sang-min, an artist, starts filming her while painting flowers on her naked body, which turns out to be weirdly therapeutic for the disturbed Yeong-hye. Chae gives a committed perf as a woman who should be committed, and Kang Chang-bae’s sumptuous lensing results in some eerily erotic tableaux. But Yeong-hye’s inner demons, hinted at in flashbacks and whispery voiceover, don’t have much meat on their bones.